Works
Vivekananda left a body of philosophical works. Only a handful of those were published during his lifetime. A notable theme in his works is different ways of worshiping suggested for varied types of individuals. Vivekananda observed that human could be classified into four categories—those who were in constant activity, or the worker; those who were driven by their inner urge, or the emotional; those who tended to analyse the working of their minds, or the mystical; and those who weighed everything with reason, or the rational. So he discussed four ways of worships—Karma yoga for the worker, Bhakti yoga for the emotional, Raja yoga for the mystical, and Jnana yoga for the rational. Majority of his published works were compiled from lectures given around the world. Vivekananda was a singer and a poet, and composed many songs and poems including his favourite Kali the Mother. He blended humour in his teachings; his language was lucid. His Bengali writings stand testimony to the fact that he believed that words—spoken or written—should be for making things easier to understand rather than show off the speaker or writer's knowledge.
Read more about this topic: Swami Vivekananda
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“Artists, whatever their medium, make selections from the abounding materials of life, and organize these selections into works that are under the control of the artist.... In relation to the inclusiveness and literally endless intricacy of life, art is arbitrary, symbolic and abstracted. That is its value and the source of its own kind of order and coherence.”
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“To receive applause for works which do not demand all our powers hinders our advance towards a perfecting of our spirit. It usually means that thereafter we stand still.”
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